Animals for Rent

In our society today, with all our advancements and breakthroughs, life in the 21st century is noticeably better than before. However, some problems will never go away, like war and death. Aside from that, a problem which has recently plagued our society is the practice of animals-for-rent. Animals, like humans, have their own habitats, and they live in what we collectively call the wild. Some humans have decided to pull these animals out of their homes and rent them for profit through the inhumane practice of animals-for-rent. These ignorant people are very cruel; they treat the animals as objects that only serve as entertainment to the public in the form of rental books or DVDs (Animal Aid, 2007). This unsafe and exploitative practice has gradually weakened animal rights and rips deeply into human morality and conscience. It is often the case that the people involve in this practice, this so-called exotic pet markets, give no regards to the survival of these animals, which are often on the endangered list. According to Richard Farinato (in The Humane Society of the United States, www.hsus.org), wild and exotic animals are favorable vectors for diseases and parasites, often the outbreak of diseases cause the death of a mass of animals. If this situation is continue without any resolution, these animals might become extinct. Because there are no concerns to the needs of the animals, the livelihood will decrease rapidly, and eventually they might not be able to live on Earth. Recently the Indonesian government came up with a plan – rent out the tigers so as to raise fund to save Sumatran Tigers. Many doubt that whether the government is really saving the tigers or are just taking benefit from them. It was reported in the website, MSNBC that a deposit of one billion rupiah which is about $107,000 USD will be charged to rent a pair of tiger as a pet. Also, the government offer rich people the opportunity to rent tigers in order to restrain poaching and illegal trade (www.msnbc.msn.com, 25 January 2010). In fact, Sumatran tigers are an endangered species and there are only a few hundred left in Indonesia. Furthermore, environmental organizations and environmental activists opposed the tiger rental idea because it is an incorrect way of conserving the species and instead the government needs to emphasize forest conservation (Jellen, 2010). Forest is the native habitat of tigers, yet they are treated unfairly by a government which forces them to leave their homes. Why does the government not preserve and conserve their natural wild habitat? Because of moving from place to place will forced the tigers to be unable to adapt to the changing environment; which in turn might weaken their immune system and leads to possible death and extinction. In this case, the government is more the moneymaker than the preserver. Sometimes bad decision will ruin the good intention. From the tiger issue, it is clearly shown that the people’s real motive behind the purpose of saving tigers on papers. Most of the people never realize that what they had done to the animals is cruel and merciless. The panda issue best describes human’s selfishness. The giant panda is one of the national treasures of China and have been used as China’s diplomatic gifts since ancient times. China’s leadership treats pandas as gifts and sends them abroad in order to bring closer relations with other countries. It is said that “Mao ZeDong tried panda diplomacy whereby pandas were dispatched across the globe as a sign of goodwill. The arrival in the US of Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling, and of Chia Chia and Chin Ching in the United Kingdom sealed a desire for a more cordial relationship with Washington and London” (Snow & Taylor, 2008, p. 285). This is a proof of that pandas are being used as Chinese ambassadors in order to achieve important objective in politics. Moreover, the leadership of China also rent out the pandas to the foreign zoos. It is stated that the foreign zoos can loan the pandas for more than $1 million per annum as this is referred as the form of an experimental exchange(Liu & Wehrfritz, 2006). Seems this kind of rental can be a good way to make profit, but totally not fair to the pandas! Pandas do have feelings too, same as human, they need all the love which they can get. How would they feel if they are treated like prisoners imprisoned in the zoo? Sure they would not be happy and this kind of experience might bring about stress. It is barbaric for the leaders to treat pandas like dolls to send to others because this action treats pandas as profit making tools. Millions of people gathered each year to go to the zoo. Visitors are mostly parents who bring their children to visit the zoos and see rare and cute animals. However, how many of them actually know the real facts of zoos today? Wild animals including mammals, reptiles, birds and fish are just like collections of exotic goods in zoos. They are exhibited in zoos and treated as entertainment to the visitors. All of these animals lost their freedom to prey on others animals, run around the large grassland, or fly wherever they want and choosing their partners. In fact, some zoos today are abusing these wild animals. The management of the zoos will often cut down the expenses in animal care. It is reported that eleven Siberian tigers died in a zoo located in Shenyang, China because of starvation (Yang, 2010).. This case shows that the zoos do not provide humane conditions for the animals. PETA Media Center website (n.d.) stated that zoos contend they want to protect animals from extinction, but actually prefer exotic and popular animals because they attract the public rather than “endangered local wildlife” (www.peta.org/mc/). Furthermore, zoos also capture animals from the wild repeatedly to display them to the visitors. Zoos are no longer the medium for public awareness; but are instead a massive profit making machine. Human beings should stop taking advantage from animals especially the wild animals in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. From the two issues that had been mentioned above, both the tigers and pandas are endangered species. Nevertheless, the particular governments continue to exploit them by renting them out and locking them in zoos. Tigers are known as the “King of the Jungle” had became one of the fastest disappearing species on Earth. Based on the information from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) website (n.d), the population of tigers left today is only 3,200 in the wild. At the beginning, there were nine subspecies of tiger, Bali, Javan, Caspian, Amur (Siberian), Bengal, Indochinese, Malayan, South China, and Sumatran. However, the first three species became extinct in the past 70 years and the other six subspecies can only be found in Asia (www.worldwildlife.org). Tigers became endangered because of illegal hunting, illegal deforestation which destroys their habitats, and forceful separations from their population. On the other hand, among the world’s most threatened animals, the giant panda is the rarest member of the bear family and these cute and cuddly creatures can only be found in China. It is reported that there are only 1,000 pandas remaining in China's Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces (China releases captive-raised panda, 28 April, 2006). Pandas are disappearing quickly because rapid growth in the Chinese economy opened up the pandas’ habitat to development and so if poaching is not strictly prevented by China’s government. In order to ensure that the international trade of wildlife does not threaten their survival, there is an international agreement between the governments of the world called the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This agreement focuses on preventing animals from becoming extinct. For instance, there is a strict regulation passed by CITES that banned the commercial trade of pandas. According to CITES (n.d), it grants different stages of protection to over 30,000 species of animals and plants. This legislation is vital to protect species from “over-exploitation” in the international trade (www.cites.org). Human rights are a fundamental basic of human life that prevents problems like exploitation and mistreatment. However, these animals are having their rights taking away. Just because they are powerless to fight back against human, it does not mean that human have the right to deprive them so. If someone was given that same amount of control over us, would we want the same fate to befall us? The fact goes unnoticed that many animals die each year from these practices. Some companies are using them as testers in the laboratories to carry out different kind of experiments. Imagine you being the one experimented upon in the laboratory right now. Not a happy scenario. Moreover, animals are also used for entertainment purpose in circuses and zoos. These animals are often abused by their trainers and are forced to perform like common circus clowns. So, that is why animals should have rights too. Jeremy Bentham (1978), the founder of the reforming utilitarian school of moral philosophy, stated that when judging one’s right, “The question is not, ‘Can they reason?’ nor ‘Can they talk?’ but ‘Can they suffer?’” (as cited in Wikipedia, 2010). Bentham points to the matter of suffering as the crucial concern that decides one’s right through “equal consideration” (Bentham, 1978). All animals are creatures that live together with human beings in the same world. So that they can also feel fear, anger, loneliness and pain as human do. Human beings are responsible for the welfare of the animals as the protectors of our world. We are the only ones capable of doing so and we should not shirked our responsibility. It is stated in People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) website (2010), every living thing which has a will to live, and has a right to not suffer (www.peta.org). Animal rights is not just a phrase, it is a civilized movement that challenges a man's common mentality and understanding that have been followed over centuries that living creatures besides human exist just to serve humans’ needs. In order to stop human’s mistreatment to the wild animals, numerous steps must be undertaken to resolve the issues. Besides wildlife organizations and governments, individuals and families are obligated to rescue the wild animals from extinction. For individuals, everyone has to take action wisely to save the wild animals by helping to stop illegal wildlife trade. This will work only if individuals do not consume dishes that contain parts of endangered species, such as sharks fin soup, bears paw and turtle egg; do not spend money buying any products made from endangered species, such as seals fur clothing and turtle shell jewelery; also, do not buy and use medicines that contain parts of endangered species, such like bear bile and rhinoceros horn. For families, they can make a donation monthly or annually to wildlife organizations to support their righteous conservation work. Parents can encourage their children to adopt an animal, an option provided in many wildlife organizations websites. Through this method, parents can inspire their children and guide them to save animals in general. In addition, wildlife organizations and governments should work together to protect the endangered species’ natural habitat and establish proposals to punish countries that infringes upon the endangered species list. Lastly, governments involved in the tiger rental and panda diplomacy issue should self-examine their own actions and consider the toll their actions had put upon the animals.